Don’t Get a Kidney from Kaiser

By consumerist.comAugust 11, 2006

Kaiser agreed to a punitive damages totaling $5 million after opening a new kidney transplant center with a disapointing success rate, to say the least.

LAT found that at the new center, twice as many patients died as those who received kidneys. This is a reversal of industry norms where twice as many people receive kidneys as those that die while waiting.

In opening the new center, Kaiser ordered patients transferred from University of California. However, they failed to talk to regulators about the transfer of 1,500 patients leading to surgery delays.

Every time I start dwelling on how screwed up the healthcare system is here in Canada, a story like this comes along. It’s reports like this that show how for-profit health care (which should work better than state-run) is always derailed by greed and incompetence.

Virginia Postrel, the former editor of Reason magazine and one of the original bloggers, argues that people should be allowed to sell their organs if they want. I agree. I also think prostitution should be legal. It’s your body, why shoudn’t you be allowed to sell it if you want to?

Here’s a link to one of her recent posts on organ selling, from a speech by a pediatric nephrologist at the 2006 World Transplant Congress (hope you don’t mind me posting this; I just think we should rethink this taboo, as it would make many more organs available to those who need them):

Hey maybe prisoners should be able to give up organs for commuted sentences. Maybe homeless people would give up kidneys for some MD20/20! Just because Virginia is an original blogger doesn’t mean she’s not dumb as bricks. Allowing people to sell organs is beyond stupid.

Um, they don’t exactly let dummies in as editor in chief of Reason. I’ve read Virginia’s work for years, and I suggest you read it before you speculate as to her intelligence.

Moreover, I think prisoners should be made to pay restitution, and giving up an organ would be one way to do it. Again, it’s your body, why can’t you do with it as you wish? All you seem to be doing above is trotting out the same lazy nonthink that’s formed the status quo. Yes, there will be abuses, as with anything, but I’m opposed to the regulation of everything for everyone just because it doesn’t work for some (for example, no dirty words on TV because of “the children, the children!” Guess what, if you have a kid, you parent it yourself and deny it the ability to watch “adult” shows; don’t make the government parent all of us in your parental absence).

P.S. I’m currently tormenting my car thief into paying me my court-ordered restitution, but not everyone is as talented a girl detective as I am. (I played Nancy Drew and got my car back, no thanks to the LAPD, and then tracked him down three times, no thanks to the LAPD, to get him to start and keep paying me what he owes.) When you’re the victim of a crime, you pooh-pooh restitution all you want. Thanks, but I’ll take the cash.